Sweden – Sustainability at Victoria Park
About Victoria Park
Victoria Park, a subsidiary of Vonovia, has a portfolio consisting of around 16,700 apartments with a total area of 1,319,000 m2 and a market value of SEK 25.7 billion. Victoria Park’s business model is to acquire, develop and manage residential real estate with a high level of development potential in growing cities throughout Sweden. We also aim to constantly improve our portfolio by renovating apartments in such a way that value appreciates, and through densification.
Victoria Park focuses on socially sustainable management in order to raise the long-term attractiveness of its neighborhoods and thereby also the value of its apartments. Responsibility, profitability and sustainability are a prerequisite for us to fulfill our commitments to owners, employees, customers and other stakeholders.
Based on our portfolio of existing and acquired apartments, our management approach is as follows:
Investing in Raising Standards
- We intend to achieve a standard that makes our apartments comparable with newly constructed condominiums through an efficient and high-quality refurbishment process. Refurbishments are always performed when apartments are vacant in order to avoid burdening existing tenants.
- By making cost-saving investments, we also want to lower the impact our buildings have on the climate and improve their energy efficiency. For instance, by improving the ventilation systems, installing LED motion-sensor lighting, additional insulation in the attics, heating systems controlled by weather forecasts and systems for individual water meter reading.
Socially Sustainable Management
- We actively work to increase employment and foster even better integration through our rental policy, the Victoria Park program and our relationships with residents. This also allows us to cultivate a sense of belonging in the buildings and the neighborhood, which enables us to contribute to the creation of calm, safe and attractive residential areas.
- We strive to be included fully in the local social environment, e.g., through comprehensive cooperation with the authorities, municipalities, organizations and owners.
Socially Sustainable
Socially sustainable investments are based on commitment and good relationships. These are created primarily through presence in residential areas, allowing us to build long-lasting relationships between companies, individuals and society – through increased employment and integration, refurbishment programs and cooperation. The result is more attractive housing areas and a positive development in society.
A material element of Victoria Park’s management model is our sustainability agenda. By establishing sustainable relationships between companies, citizens and society, we can cultivate commitment and promote integration, contributing toward more sustainable urban and social developments. This encourages more people to actively participate in their neighborhoods and contribute toward creating a calm, safe and attractive residential environment.
We always aim to commission companies that have a social clause covering local procurement.
Since 2013, Victoria Park has been employing long-term unemployed people – primarily residents from our own neighborhoods – to work on a temporary basis in the Victoria Park program as environment wardens or residential coaches. Environment wardens are responsible for maintenance of the residential buildings, while residential coaches deal with practical rental issues and recording refurbishment needs. In 2017, the national economist Ingvar Nilsson conducted an external study of the Victoria Park program and wrote an evaluation report entitled “Behind the Financial Statements.” The results showed the program had both economic and socioeconomic advantages. Over a period of 20 years, reintegrating long-term unemployed people into the world of work results in a social profit of around SEK 120 million. We published a comprehensive report on our social sustainability initiative in the Herrgården area of Rosengård, Malmö, in 2018. The report “Droppen som urholkar stenen” (little strokes fell big oaks) analyzes the effect of our initiatives between 2013 and 2018 and presents the direct social impacts that they have, e.g., that residents get back into work after a (longer) period of unemployment and are therefore no longer reliant on welfare. In order to create a financial parameter for measuring this effect, Ingvar Nilsson used a calculation method that employed various realistic assumptions and precautionary principles. His calculations show that the advantages that result from the social sustainability work implemented and planned by Victoria Park in Herrgården will amount to SEK 261 million over the next ten years.
Climate and Environmental Protection
In our apartments, energy is primarily used for heating, ventilation, running laundry rooms and lighting public spaces. Almost 90% of our energy consumption is from district heating and 10% is from electricity that is generated without any fossil fuels whatsoever. Tenants also use electricity for lighting, household devices and electronics, but this electricity consumption is not normally included in the rent and therefore not recorded by Victoria Park.
Our aim is to achieve a constant improvement in the portfolio’s energy efficiency. We achieve this by using new technology, better insulation and intelligent control systems, for example. In 2015, Victoria Park launched an ambitious project to regulate the heating system according to the weather forecast, thus aiming to optimize energy consumption. This technology had been fitted in the majority of our 16,700 apartments.
Thanks to comprehensive investments in energy-saving measures, energy efficiency was improved, carbon emissions were reduced and energy intensity was lowered. This development shows that our measures to reduce the impact of climate change are working.
Another important topic is the reduction of water consumption. As part of our kitchen and bathroom refurbishments to improve standards, we regularly implement measures throughout the portfolio that contribute to reducing water consumption. For example, water-saving faucets and toilets that significantly reduce consumption are installed in 1,200 apartments per year. Our water project also includes the replacement of sanitary facilities and repairing sewage pipes. Water consumption can also be effectively reduced by installing individual water meters. This means that residents receive detailed information regarding their water consumption and can adapt their behavior accordingly.
Victoria Park also assigns refurbishment and conversion work to quality companies that take into account environmental aspects, such as energy efficiency, material selection and correct handling of hazardous chemicals.
Employees
Victoria Park strives to create an inclusive working environment that allows all of our employees, regardless of age, gender, ethnic origin or sexuality, to remain true to their character. We wish to offer our employees a progressive working environment that promotes work satisfaction and a healthy lifestyle.
Proactive health work with the aim of securing high attendance rates and promoting health factors is part of our responsibility as an employer. The health promotion work includes, among other things, health surveys, wellness grants, rehabilitation processes, a central safety committee for all issues relating to the workplace, covering social, organizational and health concerns.
Our Code of Conduct clearly condemns all forms of discrimination and includes our customers, suppliers and partners in this. As part of our endeavors to ensure that the Code of Conduct is applied correctly and to simplify the reporting of irregularities, we have had an external whistleblowing service in place since 2018.
Find out more at: https://www.victoriapark.se/en-us/